A federal appeals court rode in like the cavalry and handed a victory to the US Polo Association in a trademark dispute with Ralph Lauren.
The famous fashion company had taken a swing at the sport of polo’s governing body, claiming that it had ripped off Lauren’s iconic polo-player-on-horseback logo, which for decades has graced the casual wear of preppies from Newport to Southampton.
At a trial in 2005, a jury found that only one of four logos used by the polo association infringed on the rights of the Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., according to the New York Law journal.
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concurred with the jury’s finding this week.
Neither the association nor Ralph Lauren could be reached for comment on the verdict.
This isn’t the first time the two sides have faced off, according to the Law Journal. Ralph Lauren won a judgment in 1984 that barred the association from using some logos that were too close to the clothing company – though the polo association was still allowed to do some marketing that involved images of players on horses.